Let Your Light Shine? How?

Greg Laurie

When you are living for Jesus Christ, your very presence will sometimes bother others. And the more godly a person is, the more obviously this will take place. Few things are more difficult to put up with than a good example. And when you live this way, it really gets the attention of people.

Light reveals things. We have all heard the well-worn excuses as to why people don't believe in Jesus. But the real reason people don't believe is they don't want their sin exposed. They don't want to acknowledge their shortcomings. The Bible says, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:19-20).

Light not only exposes what is hidden in the darkness, but light shows the way out. In the same way, the light that shines from Christians shows people not only their shortcomings and their sins, but it shows them the way out, the way to Jesus Christ.

What kind of general opinion do you think people would have of Christianity if you were its sole representative? What if every Christian lived exactly like you? How many would be attracted to or turned off by the gospel? Jesus said, "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). You may be the only representative of Jesus Christ that your friends, your family, your coworkers, and your neighbors may ever meet. And they will evaluate the whole idea of Christianity on the basis of what they see in you. They will form an opinion about what they think about God based on you. So let your light shine.

Matthew 7:1 is probably one of the most quoted verses in our culture. But the verse is usually misused by those who like to throw it around. The standard isn’t about humanity’s views, but about God’s truth.